INDIANAPOLIS — If you thought Johnny Manziel was a great athlete before the NFL Combine, his display of speed and quickness on Sunday reminded NFL teams he has a whole other gear.

Everyone expected the former Texas A&M star to be fastest quarterback on the field at Lucas Oil Stadium, and his back-to-back unofficial times in the 40-yard dash didn't disappoint. His times: 4.63 and 4.56 seconds.

It wouldn't have been possible, however, without the help of ace strength and conditioning coach Ryan Flaherty.

Manziel, along with his favorite Aggies wide receiver, Mike Evans, worked hard with Flaherty before the Combine, treating it like a championship track meet. With his background in track and field, Flaherty's goal was to help them carry their football speed into their sprints, in turn making them more dangerous pro football players.

"The hard part is, what people don't understand, is that Johnny, he just can't wake up and do that in the 40, there's technique that's involved," Flaherty said. "Quick is still more what the game is all about, and that's where he stands out. He's been developing his quickness for a while."

As part of his preparation to show he's as fast as he is quick, Manziel ran the 40-yard dash for a fully timed 24 times over the course of one six-day stretch while training at Flaherty's California performance complex. Manziel's explosiveness on the field was a launching point, giving him an edge over not just every quarterback, but most prospects in general.

"His athleticism makes it easy to train a guy like him," Flaherty said of the Heisman Trophy winner, who started coming to Flaherty as a redshirt freshman. "He knows his body, and once he gets comfortable with his reps, he gets obsessive with getting them right. He picks things up quickly, and he's so strong."

As he pushed Manziel with the athletic side to complement what quarterback guru George Whitfield does on the football side, Flaherty got to know just how competitive Manziel is about everything, from agility drills to games of H-O-R-S-E. He also saw Manziel mature off the field in the past two months.

"We've spent 24/7 together as I've had a bigger role with him. He's learning who he should and shouldn't have in his life," Flaherty said. "The past 45 days have been a awesome transition for him in terms of growing up, that's it's time to put the childish ways behind and start making the right decisions for him as a man."

Evans also is a surefire first-round pick because of his hands and frame of 6-4 3/8, 231 pounds. Flaherty was not surprised by the wide receiver's 40 times of 4.50 and 4.47, terrific for that size.

"The reason why scouts told me they had Sammy Watkins ahead of Mike in the draft was just flat-out speed, because they expected him to run 4.6, and Sammy was running at 4.3," Flaherty said. "Mike's got the more vertical game that translates better to the NFL, and I've been told a 4.4 would put him No. 1 on most boards."

Another key to helping Manziel and Evans run so well was a calculated approach based on their much different body types.

"Based on a guy's height and stride length, you can tell exactly how many steps they need to run for the time they want to run" Flaherty said.

Manziel at 5-11 is more compact and thus must take more steps to match the much taller Evans. Given their best 40 times on Sunday, it took Manziel 20 in comparison to Evans' 19.

Flaherty, 32, who has worked with recent No. 1 picks Cam Newton and Andrew Luck, compares Manziel to "Dennis the Menace" in terms of unique tenacity. As a coach, he knows the Combine necessity of the 40 is just one part of the package, but also something that can still boost what teams already know about Manziel.

"They've seen the film, he played in the SEC, the best conference in football,, ahd now Johnny made guys miss week in and week out. The biggest thing with his development was the understanding he can't continue to rely as much his athleticism.

"That's what we've been working on; not just changing the way he plays, but just getting faster and quicker. He's been committed to doing that."